If you have a web presence and want
visitors, then backlinks are a must
have.

The purpose of SEO is to get your content in
front of people. Nothing fancy about it. The
main way you do that is with backlinks. The
definition of backlink is "an incoming hyperlink
from one web page to another website." This is
what Google uses to gauage how popular your
page is, what the Page Rank should be, and
where it is located on its search pages. Let me
tell you straight right now, if your not on the first
page with Google then you are not getting any traffic. At least not as much as you would want!
I'm here to tell you how to get your website ranked so your content will reach more readers,
more customers. So lets start with what backlinks are best for your online business site.

All Backlinks are equal, but some are more equal than others.
In Google's eyes there is a difference in where the backlink came from. A link from a high ranking
site is worth a lot more than some comment spam on a blog. Both of them are links, but the high
ranking page adds authority to that link too. To illustrate lets assume your are mentioned in two
blogs; where one has a Pagerank of 1 and the other 3. The latter blog (Page Rank of 3) would
pass more link juice than the former. Pretty simple right?

That same thinking can be used to describe other types of links. Here is a short list of the
different type of backlinks you can have. Oh this is some random text to get the spellchecker
moving!
1. Web 2.0: Any post that has a link back to your site. The better the site, the more authority
the link has. This also includes guest posting. Unless it is from a site that has spam on it,
point at your Tier 1 money site.
2. Forum Posts: To be popular on a forum takes some people skills, writing skills, and
consistency. If you can do all three then you can add authority and forum viewers to your
site. Most forums have a rule that you have to be able to post a certain amount of times
before you are allowed to post a link. These links are not as good as a Web 2.0 article,
but it is counted. Great way to promote a Tier 2 website.
3. Comments: These links are not that good, and it takes a lot of them to help in anyway.
The reason being is that so many programs that can automatically post generic spam
comments exist. On a sidenote, adding CAPTCHA to thwart spammers does not work.
There are services you can buy, integrated in automatic comment software that will solve
the CAPTCHA for you. The only way is to actively moderate a website comments. In
addition, closing down comments after a certain amount of time will reduce comment
spam. I do not recommend that for new websites though. Comments can help page
rank, but their effect is minimal. Good for a Tier 2 website.

4. Directories and Link Exchanges: These use to be a great place to get your website out
there. However, they have been spammed to death that they have no meaning anymore.
Google is in the process of removing any link authority from directories. Can be used for
Tier 2 websites, never for a Tier 2.

Getting the most out of your links.
During Christmas we give presents normally wrapped (unless we're to lazy and give a bag).
Giving someone a toaster wrapped, is always better than just handing them just a toaster. The
same thing can be said for backlinks. A link to your site wrapped in a URL shortener will transfer
the url shorteners rank to your website. The two best url shorteners are Tinyurl.com (Page Rank
of 7) and SmartURL.it (Page Rank of 4), anything else you take your chances with.
A word of caution if you use this method. Don't go overboard using URL shorteners. It will only
bring the wrath of Google as they index your site. You can use this method and see results, but
don't think for a second that Google isn't wise to this. Doing a blast of comments with your
shortened URL is not going to work for your website.
I'm going to touch upon this topic again in the near future, on different ways to get backlinks to
your site.

For now, consider this only as an introduction to the final solution of you having a successful
website that you earn a living from. Leave a comment if you have any questions, or just don't like
my analogies. :p Give us a share or tweet, and help make some backlinks for this site too! Keep
working on your online business, and throw in some backlinks of your own.